The Dallas Stars took care of a crucial piece of business on Tuesday when they signed Thomas Harley to an eight-year contract extension worth $10.59 million annually.
With Harley’s signing, the Stars now have forwards Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston, defensemen Esa Lindell and Harley, and goalie Jake Oettinger signed through 2029-30. Star blueliner Miro Heiskanen is signed through 2028-29 as well.
Back-to-back-to-back GM of the year Jim Nill has turned these Stars into a long-term Stanley Cup front-runner with possibly the best core in the Western Conference.
But that brings up an enjoyable hockey debate: do the Stars have the best core signed through 2030 in the Western Conference, or do the Vegas Golden Knights hold that title?
There’s certainly a strong case to be made that the Golden Knights have the best core in the West under contract through the 2029-30 season. With forwards Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Tomas Hertl and Brett Howden, defensemen Noah Hanifin, Shea Theodore and Kaedan Korczak, and goalie Adin Hill, the Golden Knights’ core has the type of skill, power and balance that very few teams even come close to having.
The Stars’ core, however, has the potential to be the best in the West.
Oettinger is better than Hill. Rantanen and Marner are virtually tied in terms of what they bring to the table, although Rantanen has the edge in the playoffs. Eichel and Hintz are a toss-up because both are so good at both ends of the ice, and they’ve each struggled with injury issues. As for the 22-year-old Johnston, he should continue to improve as a budding star, while Hertl is in the later years of his prime.
Hanifin and Theodore are currently a better duo than Harley and Lindell, although Heiskanen being signed through one more year would have made that trio very desirable over Vegas’ trio. And at 24, Harley is a rising force in the NHL, with 50 points last year and effective two-way play.
The only real question for the Stars’ core is star left winger Jason Robertson, who will be an RFA at the end of the season and is eligible to be a UFA in 2027. The 26-year-old has been one of the game’s preeminent scorers, and he’s due to get a significant raise on his current $7.75-million salary. But with the rising salary cap ceiling, it’s still feasible that Robertson could remain a Star over the long haul.
Any way you slice it, that’s a pretty good Dallas lineup under team control for the foreseeable future. And if the cap ceiling continues to rise, there will eventually be enough cap space to augment this core. This is why the Stars will remain a Cup favorite for this year, next year and many seasons to come.
The Golden Knights have done an excellent job of remaining a contender, with 9.00 odds of winning the Stanley Cup this season, according to BetMGM. Dallas’ Cup odds, meanwhile, are at 10.00.
Adding Marner is a huge boost to an already-strong offense in Vegas. But piece by piece, Nill has put together a powerhouse squad in Dallas, and he hasn’t significantly overpaid anyone.
While it may be next-to-impossible to keep this Stars team together if they can’t eventually win it all, Nill’s deft cap management assures Dallas’ players that they’re going to have a solid shot of contending for a Cup year-in and year-out.
And if you’re a Stars player, that’s all you can ask of your GM.
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